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Soviet Walkers
Ever since the first walker design emerged from the Kazminov Design Bureau, the Soviet Union has embraced the use of walkers. Walkers permeate all walks of Soviet life, from use as police vehicles in the form of the Sickle, to use on the battlefield as with designs like the Thresher Battle Walker and the Scythe, to everyday life in the form of such contraptions as the walking buses that are a common sight in Soviet cities. KDB-5 Sickle Main Article: Sickle By the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union was in a somewhat shaky position. The Second World War had left not only the Allied Nations but also the Soviet Union bloodied and exhausted, with millions of men dead and no territorial gain or loss to show for it. Furthermore, the shake-ups and purges that had been silently carried out following Anatoly Cherdenko's coup had left the Soviet government and state apparatus in a particularly weakened state. In the Union's fringe republics, many people unhappy about the outcome of the war also sensed the state's weakness, and chose to act on it. The number of revolts shot up in the weeks after Cherdenko assumed power. Though the Soviets were eventually able to put down these revolts, it was only at the cost of a great deal of bloodshed, and in some republics the situation became so bad that the military had to be sent to restore order. In the wake of these revolts, questions were asked as to why the police forces in these republics had not been able to handle the revolts. The problem, as it were, was that the police forces were simply too ill equipped; after all, a uniform and a truncheon was all that the average policeman had. Though sufficient for normal situations, for dealing with riots such equipment just wouldn't do. To prevent such revolts from breaking out again, the Soviets began to draw up special anti-riot forces that were only to be deployed in such situations. These police officers would need to carry firearms and wear body armour, and their vehicles would need to be able to weather the worst rioters could throw at them. The standard patrol car was clearly unsuitable, so a new vehicle was drawn up. Designed by the Kazminov Design Bureau, this vehicle was the KDB-5 Sickle Patrol Walker. Mounted on three legs and armed with three heavy machine guns in independent mounts, the Sickle had enough firepower to convince most crowds that dispersing was the best option; for those crowds that weren't convinced, it could put them down with force. Its chassis was designed to weather thrown rocks and even small arms fire, though it couldn't be expected to withstand anything larger than that. All in all, the Sickle's only flaw was the open topped design left the two side gunners exposed and vulnerable. Indeed, the Sickle proved so successful that a variant of it was adopted by the Soviet military shortly after its introduction, while the original 1956 design has remained in service with Soviet police forces for over a dozen years with virtually no changes, and is expected to remain in service for some years yet. KDB-12 Scythe Main Article: Scythe KDB-13 Reaper Battle Walker Main Article: Reaper Battle Walker KDB-14 Thresher Battle Walker Main Article: Thresher Battle Walker KDB-16X Strategic Artillery Walker The immediate predecessor of the KDB-17 Perun, the KDB-16 was a failed attempt to design a mobile artillery platform with immense range and firepower. Intended to carry a Vacuum Imploder warhead and the systems required to fire one, the KDB-16 would be a walker with the range to hit the United Kingdom, and would have significant advantage over stationary Imploder silos in that it would be able to move, allowing it to retreat from an area once it had fired its weapon. Unfortunately, technical problems plagued the project and eventually resulted in its death. The original quadruped design had to be replaced with a hybrid design with two frontal legs and rear wheels. The design proved impractically slow. The immense complexity and size of the walker made it an easy target and prone to mechanical breakdown; it had a near total lack of armour, a measure taken to reduce weight. The KDB-16 proved expensive, slow, fragile, and a nightmare to maintain; in short, grossly impractical. KDB-17 Perun Anti Tank Walker Main Article: Perun Tank Destroyer P-1 Alkonost Propaganda Walker Main Article: Alkonost Propaganda Walker VDI-2X Leech Walker Main Article: Vampire Leech Walker Category:Lore